In the unfortunate event that an account holder dies, the personal representative(s) of the deceased must follow the Deceased Customer Process below.

Please note, depending on who is completing the Deceased Customer Process below and the bank account that funds will ultimately be released to, will determine if a Grant of Probate is or is not required:

- If the process will be carried out by and funds will ultimately be released to a client bank account of one of the five regulated entities listed below, OakNorth will not require a Grant of Probate.
- If the process will be carried out by an individual executor and all the below criteria are met, OakNorth will not require a Grant of Probate:
  - - The executor has provided a certified copy (by one of the five regulated entities listed below) of the Will or provided a letter from one of the five regulated entities listed below, verifying them as an executor of the estate and,
    - funds will ultimately be released directly back to the same bank account that the deceased customer has linked to their OakNorth account(s) (stated in the Confirmation of the Account Balance(s) Letter provided by OakNorth in Step 3 below) and the individual executor is a joint account holder of this bank account.

However, if any of the criteria above cannot be met, OakNorth will require a Grant of Probate.

Step 1:

The first step in the process is for the personal representative(s) to notify OakNorth that the account holder has passed away, by either sending an email to businessdesk@oaknorth.co.uk, sending a letter to the address below or calling OakNorth on 0330 380 1181 and also providing the full name(s), date(s) of birth, and address details of the personal representative(s):

OakNorth Bank plc
6th Floor, Ship Canal House
98 King Street
Manchester
M2 4WU

Step 2:

The second step in the process is for the personal representative(s) to provide OakNorth with the Original or Certified copy of the Death Certificate. If the Death Certificate is to be a certified copy, please click here to see how to certify a document and the only types of certification that OakNorth can accept.

Note: If a Death Certificate has not yet been issued, OakNorth can accept an Original or Certified copy of the Coroner’s Certificate of the Fact of Death. Alternatively, OakNorth can also accept an Original Solicitor’s Death Certificate Verification Form. However, this is only on the basis that the form is prepared by one of the three regulated entities below:

Firm regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority
Firm regulated by the Law Society of Scotland
Firm regulated by the Law Society of Northern Ireland

The Death Certificate, Coroner’s Certificate of the Fact of Death, or Solicitor’s Death Certificate Verification Form should be sent via post to the address stated above.

Step 3:

The third step in the process will be for OakNorth to release a confirmation of the account balance(s) to the personal representative(s) and to send them the OakNorth Early Account Closure Form (alternatively the OakNorth Early Account Closure Form can be downloaded by clicking here). One of the two sub-processes listed below will need to be followed depending on whether the Death Certificate will be provided by and the process will be carried out by either:

– the executor(s)

– a regulated entity (exhaustive list below) acting on behalf of the executor(s):

> Firm regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority

> Firm regulated by the Law Society of Scotland

> Firm regulated by the Law Society of Northern Ireland

> Firm authorised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (for probate services)

> Firm authorised by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (for probate services)

Note: OakNorth will not be able to disclose any information about a deceased customer’s account(s) to any entity that is unregulated and/or unauthorised for probate services. Therefore, if an executor will choose to instruct an entity to act on their behalf, OakNorth requires this to be one of the five regulated entities listed above.

1. If the Death Certificate will be sent by and the process will be carried out by one of the five regulated entities listed above, OakNorth will release a confirmation of the account balance(s) to that entity without further documentation required.

2. If the Death Certificate will be sent by and the process will be carried out by the executor(s), OakNorth will require further documentation listed below before a confirmation of the account balance(s) will be released:

a. Two, separate, Original or Certified copies of: 1) Proof of Identification and 2) Proof of Address documents for all the executor(s). Details of which documents OakNorth will be able accept can be found by clicking here and details of how to certify documents and the only types of certification that OakNorth will be able to accept can be found by clicking here.

and

b. Either:

i. A letter from one of the five regulated entities listed above, verifying the executor(s) of the estate.

ii. A certified copy (by one of the five regulated entities listed above) of the Will, verifying the executor(s) of the estate.

All documentation should be sent via post to the address stated above.

Step 4 (if required):

The fourth step in the process will be for the personal representative(s) to apply for a Grant of Probate or a Certificate of Confirmation (issued by a Scottish Court), if required. One of the two sub-processes listed below will need to be followed depending on who the process is being carried out by and whether the funds will ultimately be released directly to an executor or to one of the five regulated entities listed above:

1. If the process is being carried out by and funds will ultimately be released to a client bank account of one of the five regulated entities listed above, OakNorth will not require a Grant of Probate to be applied for.

2. If the process is being carried out by and funds will ultimately be released to a bank account in the name of the executor, one of the three further sub-processes listed below will need to be followed:

a. If funds are to be released to the same bank account that the deceased customer has linked to their OakNorth account(s) (stated in the Confirmation of the Account Balance(s) Letter provided by OakNorth) and the executor to whom funds will be released to is a joint account holder of this bank account, OakNorth will not require a Grant of Probate to be applied for.

b. If funds are to be released to the same bank account that the deceased customer has linked to their OakNorth account(s) (stated in the Confirmation of the Account Balance(s) Letter provided by OakNorth) but the executor to whom funds will be released to is not a joint account holder of this bank account, OakNorth will require a Grant of Probate to be applied for.

c. If funds are to be released to any other bank account other than the same bank account that the deceased customer has linked to their OakNorth account(s) (stated in the Confirmation of the Account Balance(s) Letter provided by OakNorth), OakNorth will require a Grant of Probate to be applied for.

Step 5 (if required):

The fifth step in the process will be for the personal representative(s) to send a Grant of Probate or a Certificate of Confirmation, via post to the address stated above, if required (please see Step 4 above to confirm if required).
If the Grant of Probate or Certificate of Confirmation is required, one of three requirements listed below will need to be met for OakNorth to be able to accept the Grant of Probate or Certificate of Confirmation:

1. If the Grant of Probate will have an issue date of 4^th March 2019 or LATER, this will be the “new-style” Grant of Probate with a holographic digital seal and OakNorth will be able to accept this Original Grant of Probate.

2. If the Grant of Probate will have an issue date of 3^rd March 2019 or EARLIER, this will be the “old-style” Grant of Probate with an embossed seal and OakNorth will not be able to accept this. The executor(s) will need to have this certified by one of the five regulated entities listed above.

Note: OakNorth requires all “old-style” Grant of Probate documentation to be certified by one of the five regulated entities listed above as a security measure for the protection of the funds in the account(s), by introducing an independent, regulated, third-party entity to validate the authenticity of the document.

Note: For illustrative purposes, please visit the website of The Law Society by clicking here to see the difference between the “old-style” Grant of Probate and the “new-style” Grant of Probate. Once on the website of The Law Society please click their link, “Find out the differences between the old and new grants”.

3. Regardless of the issue date of a Certificate of Confirmation, OakNorth will be able to accept this Original Certificate of Confirmation.

Step 6:

The sixth step in the process will be for the personal representative(s) to send the completed OakNorth Early Account Closure Form (which can be downloaded by clicking here) via post to the address stated above.
The OakNorth Early Account Closure Form will allow the personal representative(s) to nominate a UK mainland bank account where OakNorth will be able to release funds after all the steps have been completed successfully. One of the two sub-processes below will need to be followed depending on whether the funds will ultimately be released to an executor or toone of the five regulated entities listed above:

If the funds will ultimately be released to one of the five regulated entities listed above, the nominated bank account will need to be a client account of the firm.
If the funds will ultimately be released to an individual executor, the nominated bank account will need to be a personal bank account of which the executor is an account holder.

Note: If the process will be carried out by an individual executor who has provided a certified copy (by one of the five regulated entities listed above) of the Will or provided a letter from one of the five regulated entities listed above, verifying them as an executor of the estate, and therefore, did not provide a Grant of Probate, then funds can only be released to the same bank account that the deceased customer has linked to their OakNorth account(s) (stated in the Confirmation of the Account Balance(s) Letter provided by OakNorth) and the executor to whom funds will be released to must be a joint account holder of this bank account.

Step 7:

The seventh step in the process will be for OakNorth to review all the documentation received from the personal representative(s). In the event where OakNorth will identify that any of the steps detailed above have not been completed successfully, OakNorth will contact the personal representative(s) to request further documentation.

Step 8:

The eighth step in the process will be for OakNorth to verify the nominated bank account details provided by the personal representative(s) in the OakNorth Early Account Closure Form. Where this is possible, OakNorth will attempt to complete this verification electronically. However, where this is not possible or not successful, OakNorth will contact the personal representative(s) and require a transaction and/or documentation to be provided.

Note: OakNorth will be unable to release funds without successfully completing a verification of the nominated bank account.

Note: If the process will be completed by an individual executor, but the nominated bank account provided in the OakNorth Early Account Closure Form will not be an individual or joint account in the name of the executor, but rather will be an account that’s specifically been set up only for dealing with the estate (for example, this would usually be named: “Executor/s Account of John Smith”), then a £0.01 verification payment will need to be made from this account that’s specifically been set up only for dealing with the estate to OakNorth account number 11223300 and sort code 608319, quoting the deceased customer’s account number (stated in the Confirmation of the Account Balance(s) Letter provided by OakNorth) in the payment reference. If a £0.01 verification payment is made to OakNorth, OakNorth will return this £0.01 back to the account that has specifically been set up only for dealing with the estate, after completing a verification of the nominated bank account.

Step 9:

The ninth step in the process will be for OakNorth to release the funds via bank transfer to the verified nominated bank account of the personal representative(s).

Step 10:

The tenth step in this process will be for OakNorth to send a Confirmation of Release of Funds letter to the personal representative(s). This letter will include:

the initial deposit amount(s)
the total amount(s) of interest accrued up until the date of account closure
the total amount(s) released to the personal representative(s)

For customers who held an ISA product with OakNorth, a specific Confirmation of Release of Funds letter for ISA products will be sent, inclusive of further details of the account(s), which may allow the surviving spouse or civil partner of the deceased customer to apply for Additional Permitted Subscriptions (APS) in an ISA with another eligible ISA provider.

Note: OakNorth will be unable to accept Additional Permitted Subscriptions (APS) in a new ISA from a surviving spouse or civil partner.

When the Confirmation of Release of Funds letter will be sent by OakNorth, the process will be concluded.